Rising rents. Stagnant wages. Homelessness. Gentrification. Today's big stories in Los Angeles have a common thread: a gap in social and economic equity. A report found that L.A. has the 7th highest level of income inequality in the country.

John Ridley, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “12 Years a Slave” continues to tackle subjects that are relevant to today’s America. The unstoppable Ridley is now working on a comic book sequel, “The American Way: Those Above and Those Below.”

Matt Louis | KCET

Matt Louis

This week on "Simply Ming," he is joined by Portsmouth, N.H., chef Matt Louis from the restaurant Moxy, known for its Spanish-style tapas using seasonal New England ingredients and his newly opened Franklin Oyster House. Today, Matt cooks up goat meatballs with garlic mustard pesto, local farm feta and sunchoke chips, while Meg whips up surf-n-turf meatballs with his favorite Blue Dragon vinegar fries.

This week on "Simply Ming," he is joined by Portsmouth, N.H., chef Matt Louis from the restaurant Moxy, known for its Spanish-style tapas using seasonal New England ingredients and his newly opened Franklin Oyster House.

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This week on "Simply Ming" is legendary French chef Daniel Boulud. Daniel is the chef/owner of several restaurants: Daniel, Bar Boulud, and Cafe Boulud in New York City and also Bar Boulud in Boston. This week a couple of different versions of chicken will be made. Chef Daniel creates a poulet a l'estragon with rice pilaf and yellow wax beans and Ming makes his favorite Chinese five-spice split chicken with charred chile-tomato salsa and steamed buns. Plus, there's a very special treat from Chef Daniel.

This week on Simply Ming, legendary and James Beard award-winning Italian chef Lidia Bastianich is here. She's the author of many Italian cookbooks including her most recent, Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine. Lidia is also expanding her Eataly empire to include Boston. Today, Lidia shows off the best of her Italian style with a wonderful calamari alla griglia with head-on shrimp, salsa verde and grilled bread. Ming counters that with his famous blue ginger crispy calamari with Thai-lime dipping sauce.

This week on Simply Ming, the iconic television host, artist and master chef, Jacques Pepin, joins Ming as they cook up chicken livers two ways. Jacques is making chicken livers with mushroom port cranberry sauce, olive oil small potatoes, and topping it all off with an incredible chocolate Souffle; while Ming tries to match that with a hot chicken liver mousse with bacon-thyme sauce.

This week on Simply Ming, Top Chef alum and restaurateur, chef Tiffani Faison joins the show. She's the chef and owner of Tiger Mama and Sweet Cheeks in Boston. Today it's all about ground meat. Tiffany is making a Vietnamese dish called pad gra pow and Ming is making meatloaf sliders with sambal-bell pepper chutney. They're kicking off the party with a simple and delicious caipirinha.

This week on Simply Ming, Ming and his guest are cooking with curry spices. One of the best Indian chefs in the country, Madhur Jaffrey, joins the show. She is a James-beard award-winning author, actress, and restaurateur. Madhur is going to show how to make potatoes in a Marwari style with griddle bread and Ming aims to impress with a Japanese chicken curry with caramelized onions and cauliflower.

Frank Lloyd Wright accelerated the search for L.A.'s authentic architecture. This episode explores the provocative theory that his early homes in L.A. were also a means of artistic catharsis for Wright.